| This small-scale study investigates professors' expectations of first-year undergraduate students' disciplinary writing vis-à-vis the awareness of and actual disciplinary writing competence demonstrated by L1 and L2 student writers. Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as well as theories of writing and genre expertise provide theoretical background for the study. Course materials, instructor interviews, student writing samples and student interviews served as data sources for qualitative analysis. Diagnostic assessment of student writing complemented the qualitative analysis of professors' expectations, as presented in course materials and interviews, and students' perceptions of disciplinary writing competence, as presented in student interviews. Qualitative analysis revealed five common themes, or competences, recurring in both professor expectations and student perceptions of disciplinary writing competence: rhetorical, subject-matter, writing process, formal and critical thinking ones. The most common expectations articulated by professors were rhetorical, critical thinking and formal; in other words, professors expected some level of disciplinary genre competence from first-year undergraduate students. The analyses have not revealed any major differences between L 1 and L2 (Generation 1.5) first-year students' genre competence. This result suggests that further development of genre theory that brings together insights from both RGS and ESP is needed. The study reflects that first-year students are aware of several writing competences expected from them and are in the process of learning other disciplinary competences through immersion and practice. |
